🍱 Fukuregashi
“Fukuregashi” is a local sweet made by steaming a mixture of wheat flour, baking soda, brown sugar, and other ingredients. Because baking soda is used to make it plump, it is also referred to as “soda candy,” “fukurakan,” and “fukurekan.” It's said that brown sugar strongly established itself as a sweetener in Kagoshima in the Edo period. It's believed that the Satsuma domain, rulers of the Ryukyu Kingdom at the time, monopolized the growth of sugarcane and production of brown sugar in the Ryukyu and Amami regions, turning it into a tremendously profitable commodity. Land taxes at the time were paid with the uniquely valuable brown sugar rather than rice, and its monopolization allowed finances to recover quickly. On the other hand, because the islanders had little choice but to prioritize brown sugar production, the regular daily production of food became unsustainable and a critical situation arose called the “brown sugar hell.” Thanks to this history, brown sugar became popular throughout Kagoshima, and various local dishes utilizing brown sugar were born along with that popularization. Among those sweets, “getanha” is another local Kagoshima dish that uses brown sugar.